By now, there’s been so much said about Harrison Butker’s speech at Benedictine College on May 11 that what else can be said. Well, one thing people really haven’t mentioned is that it emphasizes how athletics is more loved and appreciated than academics. Imagine the gall of someone who is just a kicker for a team to tell women that they don ‘t deserve the degrees they’ve just earned.
Yes, Butker does have a degree himself in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech but it’s proof that school smarts don’t equal common sense and street smarts. At 28, Butker, who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs thinks he has it all figured out as he says his wife, Isabelle, is grateful to have him as her husband. This is some straight up narcissistic talk, but it’s proof that sometimes people with certain backgrounds can lead questionable lives and have odd beliefs.
His mother, Elizabeth, is a medical physicist at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute. His sister is also an OB/GYN doctor. As some people have pointed out, it’s obvious that Butker has some “Mommy Issues” and I would agree. I also think he’s upset over his sister’s accomplishments. It’s no doubt his formative years came about during the 2010s and being from Georgia, I’m sure he’s heard a lot of bad things about Barack Obama and a lot of good things about Donald Trump even though none of its true.
But his mindset is typical of a society that has placed a high value for athletics, especially toward men athletics, instead of academics and the arts. If you look at all the criticism that Caitlin Clark has undergone, even though she is a damn good basketball player, it’s relevant that someone who is just a kicker thinks he’s far more superior. One of the best basketball games I ever sat through or in this case covered, because everyone was standing, went into four overtimes. That’s about half of a game extra that was played. And this was for the position to go to the state tournament so the stakes were very high.
Yet, most athletic events award mediocrity over excellence. In 2011, the New York Giants ended up winning the Super Bowl with a 9-7 record. Granted most football games are won by a field goal but a kicker has probably the easiest job of all the players. The other team can get penalties for “Roughing the kicker.” What exactly does a kicker have to do to practice? They just kick the ball. They don’t have to run plays and run the risk of being hit by someone weighing 270 pounds. Joe Theissman’s leg was bent in a way no human’s leg should ever be bent. I’m sure right after the ball is in the air, Butker is halfway to the sidelines where it’s safe.
Also the man only works maybe half the year from training camp up until the playoffs. If he’s a very religious person, why is he working on Sunday. I’ve heard of Seventh-Day Adventist plays who only play during Fall Break when the games are on Thursday. Butker wants to preach religion and faith and then he spends his day of rest kicking a football. And I’ve heard of Jewish people who are so devout they don’t leave their homes on Saturday, the day of Sabbath, because opening the door is considered work.
But we’ve always emphasized athletics over academics especially at the college and university level. A lot of sports coaches are making more than the professors in a department combined. And at the same time, the young athletes are being exploited for their likenesses. Yet, the athletic booster club has to have a detailed account of how the pizzas they were given were bought. Otherwise, the NCAA will have an issue if someone was given something illegally.
Athletic stadiums and fields get built with taxpayers’ dollars or benefits. And yet, everyone attending is expecting to pay high ticket prices to see a game. You’d think their property taxes going up would be worth it, right? And there’s a good bet that some of your college tuition has been used for the athletic department somehow.
Last month, Mike Gundy the coach for the Oklahoma State University football team listed his mansion in Stillwater for $8 million. That’s just a little more than the $7.75 million he received under contract for 2024. At the same time, teachers in Oklahoma are some of the lowest paid in the state. Yet, they still go out there and do it, even picking up extra gigs and jobs during the summer months to make more money to get by.
To be honest, Benedictine getting an athlete to speak at its commencement ceremony wouldn’t make much sense. The small private Catholic college in Atchinson, Kan. is part of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics). So, why bring Butker? Because he’s a “devout” religious and his politically charged speech should have the IRS looking at the college’s non-profit tax-exempt status.
He’s allowed to have his beliefs but it’s foolish to say something to a bunch of young women graduates, many of them who have mothers and grandmothers who worked daily jobs. This mythos of an era during the 20th Century that white American men are in love with only is reflective of a small percent of the American population. There might have been some white housewives from The Help demographic that were allowed to live comfortably on their husbands’ paychecks. But both my parents who grew up in the 1950s say most of this was only for a small percent. And some towns didn’t have the luxury of a group of white homemakers living comfortable.
Ask any black women who lived during this period if they were allowed to be Stay At Home Wives. During the era of Jim Crow and segregation, most black women were forced to work. And they had to be maids, housekeepers or work menial jobs in factories and textiles were they weren’t paid as much. It’s the same for the Latino women who were born and raised in America but most broke their backs doing jobs in fields and on farms. Even my own grandmothers worked.
The idea of a stay at home wife/mother was a fantasy. Sadly, now most wives and mothers still are expected to do the household chores and make dinners. There’s a phrase out there called “weaponized incompetence” in which men who are husbands and/or fathers act like they can’t do simple jobs as running the dishwasher or clothes washer. They act like they can’t dress their own kids or even do basic cooking. (And before you superdads comment, no one thinks you make the best toasted-cheesed sandwhich.) I mean, it’s not that hard to turn a few knobs on a clothes washer machine or to rinse off dishes and stack them in a dishwasher then start it.
I will say that women usually like towels folded (or rolled) a certain way so that one you have to learn. But c’mon, guys! How the hell do you even dress yourself? Learn to cook. You partner will appreciate it. And if they don’t, then you have problems.
What’s funny is that Butker turns 29 in July. The shelf-life of an NFL football player isn’t long. Most NFL players find themselves turning 30 and retired. Maybe the reason Isabellselikes it so much is that he’s gone a lot and she’s got some time for herself. But what’s worse about the comments Butker made is how he called getting a degree “diabolical” as if he was mostly spitting in the face of all the women graduates.
Butker also made comments about President Joe Biden’s handling of Covid-19 pandemic which is proof that people don’t have a grasp of how things work. By the time Biden was in office, a vaccine was being administered. Yet something tells me, Butker is very anti-vaccine. There was no shelter in place. Things were getting back to normal somewhat. I think what he is mad about is how Congress still allowed people to have a stimulus check and emergency food stamps up until early 2023. Nothing says Christian love like people being forced to starve.
He doesn’t mention one thing about the what Donald Trump poorly handled Covid. The Center for Disease Control reported that by the end of 2020, more than 350,000 people had died of Covid or Covid-related complications. And let’s not forget the allegations that the Trump administration failed to enact policies because most of those who were reported dying or would die were from black communities. But leave it to someone like Butker to overlook everything Trump did wrong.
As for his comments on the LGTQIA community, there’s rumors flying around that he dated men in college. And there’s nothing wrong with that as the old Seinfeld saying goes. However, it’s typical of one person who may have had same-sex thoughts in their youth to come out and blast the community. He said ” the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it.” Yeah, I can understand he tries to patronize the Catholic conservatives but what makes him think people he’s speaking to aren’t gay.
Even religious figures have denounced his comments. “The sisters of Mount St. Scholastica do not believe that Harrison Butker’s comments in his 2024 Benedictine College commencement address represent the Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college that our founders envisioned and in which we have been so invested,” the nuns wrote in a statement. “Instead of promoting unity in our church, our nation, and the world, his comments seem to have fostered division. One of our concerns was the assertion that being a homemaker is the highest calling for a woman. We sisters have dedicated our lives to God and God’s people, including the many women whom we have taught and influenced during the past 160 years. These women have made a tremendous difference in the world in their roles as wives and mothers and through their God-given gifts in leadership, scholarship, and their careers.”
So, what’s next for Butker? Will he get fired? I think he would like that to make himself a martyr. Christians sure love to act like their being persecuted for their beliefs. Tavia and Gracie Hunt, the wife and daughter of Clark Hunt, owner of the Chiefs, say they support Butker, so it’s unlikely he’ll lose his job, this season. It’s very likely he’ll be vilified during the 2024-2025 season every time a kick fails. Some other team players might decided to go after him.
I’m all in favor of the Frist Amendment, but know your audience. It doesn’t mean people can’t criticize you if they don’t like what you say and your ideas may not coincide with others’ ideas.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 